May 2017 - Special #5

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World celebrated victory over nazi Germany May 1945

Blaming Russia would be a foolish act of betrayal

of the trust that the American voters gave Trump

Blinded by arrogance and greed the American military machine trails a series of lost wars. From the stalemate in Korea, through the bitter defeat in Viet Nam, and in the seemingly never ending wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, victory is clearly beyond their grasp. Barrack Obama and Hillary Clinton bombed the viable state of Libya out of existence. And now the Americans refuse to help restore it, turning their back on pleas from such as France while they fiddle in Syria.

What it boils down to is that for decades the U.S. has been ruled by the stupid. Now they are working hard to play the Russians as evil-doers bent on attacking the U.S. Many of these mentally-challenged look at the near success Hitler had in 1941. Within months he had almost captured Moscow. What they fail to recognize is that in 1941 the Russians were not prepared. Now they are. So take heed you adolescent wet dreamers. Stay home and rebuild your increasingly shabby and divided country while it still exists.

To Hitler and the nazi-brainwashed Germans, Slavs were subhumans who would quickly collapse under an attack by the Master Race. But once they got their act together the subhumans advanced on Berlin as fast as their supplies could keep up. The story linked below reveals how teenage Slavic girls gave the Master Race something to think about. (More) — Carl Dow.

Ukrainian woman sniper, 24, killed 309 Nazi invaders

Became friend of Eleanor Roosevelt during tour of U.S.

Paul Craig Roberts: 'It has become embarrassing to be an American'

'Our country has had four war-criminal presidents in succession'

By Paul Craig Roberts

Zero Hedge

Sunday 16 April 2017 — Clinton twice launched military attacks on Serbia, ordering NATO to bomb the former Yugoslavia twice, both in 1995 and in 1999, so that gives Bill two war crimes. George W. Bush invaded Afghanistan and Iraq and attacked provinces of Pakistan and Yemen from the air. That comes to four war crimes for Bush. Obama used NATO to destroy Libya and sent mercenaries to destroy Syria, thereby commiting two war crimes. Trump attacked Syria with US forces, thereby becoming a war criminal early in his regime.

To the extent that the UN participated in these war crimes along with Washington’s European, Canadian and Australian vassals, all are guilty of war crimes. Perhaps the UN itself should be arraigned before the War Crimes Tribunal along with the EU, US, Australia and Canada.

Quite a record. Western Civilization, if civilization it is, is the greatest committer of war crimes in human history.

And there are other crimes—Somalia, and Obama’s coups against Honduras and Ukraine and Washington’s ongoing attempts to overthrow the governments of Venezuela, Ecuador, and Bolivia. Washington wants to overthrow Ecuador in order to grab and torture Julian Assange, the world’s leading democrat.

These war crimes committed by four US presidents caused millions of civilian deaths and injuries and dispossessed and dislocated millions of peoples, who have now arrived as refugees in Europe, UK, US, Canada, and Australia, bringing their problems with them, some of which become problerms for Europeans, such as gang rapes.

What is the reason for all the death and destruction and the flooding of the West with refugees from the West’s naked violence? We don’t know. We are told lies: Saddam Hussein’s “weapons of mass destruction,” which the US government knew for an absolute fact did not exist. “Assad’s use of chemical weapons,” an obvious, blatant lie. “Iranian nukes,” another blatant lie. The lies about Gaddafi in Libya are so absurd that it is pointless to repeat them.

What were the lies used to justify bombing tribesmen in Pakistan, to bomb a new government in Yemen? No American knows or cares. Why the US violence against Somalia? Again, no Americans knows or cares. Or the morons saw a movie.

Saskatchewan to boost environmental controls after 2016

pipeline spill when land motion caused cracking of buckle

— Environment Policy & Law, April 2017 issue

Regina — Saskatchewan’s government has taken steps to improve environmental regulations after a Husky Energy pipeline rupture near Lloydminster in July 2016.

“Since the Husky spill...we’ve recognized that we need to do better when it comes to preventing incidents,” Energy & Resources Minister Dustin Duncan said in April after the release of the findings of an investigation into the incident. “The changes...will help ensure that workers and the environment are well protected moving forward.”

The cause of the pipeline break, according to the investigation, was mechanical cracking in a buckle in the pipeline. The buckle was caused by ground movement on the slope which occurred over many years. The investigators have concluded that the slope movement was not a sudden, one-time event. (More)

Wisdom is a result of a happy marriage between intelligence and experience

—Carl Dow, Editor and Publisher, True North Perspective.

True North Perspective

Vol. 14, No. 5 (379)

Special Edition 05

May 2017

Editor's Notes

The U.S. Deep State swallowed Donald Trump

and spat out a compliant war-machine puppet

Donald Trump is a record buster. There is no U.S. president in history who has broken so many of his significant election promises so quickly. Trump promised he would be a peace president. He said that under his watch the U.S. would not be the world's policeman.

As far as I was concerned this was his only saving grace. With world peace all other problems could be worked out. Trump's wealth is not directly tied to the war machine and he posed as one who was free of the Washington elite. World war offers the deadly plate of the annihilation of human life. With the capitulation of Trump to the military/industrial complex (recently renamed the Deep State) we are back to where we were.

During his first 100 days U.S. Navy Seals raided Yemini villages (where the UN says a baby dies of hunger and disease every ten minutes) supposedly held by Al Qaeda. Trump launched 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles against a Syrian military airfield. The White House said its act of international aggression was a response to an alleged use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government — which is yet to be properly investigated. Ironically, that chemical incident came just days after senior members of the Trump administration had stated that deposing the government in Damascus was no longer a goal for Washington. It just didn't make sense for Assad to make such a cruel and stupid move.

[Even yet, grasping at straws, perhaps all of the above was a Machivalian attempt to mislead the mainstream media who pounced on Trump in an unprecedented rabid character-assassination attack of hurricane force as he presented himself as a peace president. Time will tell. But meanwhile we have no choice but to take him at face value.]

NATO branded obsolete, now A-OK

The trans-Atlantic military bloc was an early target of Trump’s ire. During the election campaign, he branded the alliance “obsolete” and complained that its European members were benefiting from America’s protection, while failing to pay for it. Some British media outlets have even reported that he had handed German Chancellor Angela Merkel a multibillion dollar bill for services rendered. Both governments have denied this, however.

Skipping forward, Trump now says NATO is a “bulwark of international peace and security.” So it may be just a matter of time before the US calls on its allies to bomb some country’s government out of power, regardless of what goes on in the UN Security Council, just as it did in Iraq in 2003.

China

China played the bogeyman in Trump’s campaign. China was blamed for lost US jobs and other maladies affecting of the American worker. Candidate Trump repeatedly accused Beijing of manipulating its currency, saying he would not allow it “to rape our country.” Moreover, he called the US’ decades-old “one China policy” into question, while complaining about China failing to reign-in North Korea.

Now, he claims that he and Chinese President Xi Jinping developed a wonderful relationship during a meeting at the Mar-a-Lago resort over “the most beautiful chocolate cake.” However, the evening’s menu didn’t include a Big Mac, which Trump promised he would offer Xi before sitting down to work when he was a candidate. The Chinese media has been mocking the US leader’s U-turn.

NAFTA

Among the latest things Trump has backtracked on is the free trade deal between the US, Canada, and Mexico, better known as NAFTA. On the campaign trail, he called it the “single worst trade deal ever” and a “killer” of US jobs, but, on Thursday, the White House said the treaty would remain in place. On Friday he said there would be hard negotiations on some issues.

Russia

Trump, who repeatedly promised during his campaign that he would improve America’s relations with Russia, saying that “it would be great,” doesn’t sound very committed anymore. Maybe it has something to do with US comedy shows lampooning him as a weakling blackmailed by the Kremlin or some vocal members of the media still crushed by Hillary’s loss, who constantly excoriate him for having ‘Russia ties’, regardless of whether they have any proof or not.

Or, maybe, America’s 'Deep State’ is more powerful than the most powerful man in the world, as the person sitting in the Oval Office is often described. One can now wonder where the US and Russia will be after Trump’s four years and whether that place would have been any different if Hillary Clinton (perish the thought) had been at America’s helm.

Donald Trump held out the promise of peace and turns out to be the war machine's office boy.

Meanwhile, take it easy but take it.

Looking forward.

Carl Dow

Editor and Publisher

True North Perspective

True North Perspective On Second Thought

The Binkley Report

Alex Binkley is a foremost political and economic analyst, whose website is www.alexbinkley.com. Readers will be aware that his columns in True North Perspective have foreseen political and economic developments in Canada. In this edition ...

David Emerson urges big-picture view of trade corridors

Urban development threatens to choke off free trade flow

Short-line railways deserve greater attention and support

By Alex Binkley

True North Perspective

David Emerson has issued a timely reminder about what Ottawa’s priorities should be in its soon to be announced transportation plan.

The former federal cabinet minister and head of the group that produced a sweeping review of Canadian transportation last year says the government needs to focus on the big picture instead of physical assets such as railways, bridges, pipelines and transmission lines. (More)

'Abrupt climate change' is happening (faster than before)

By Bruce Melton

Truthout

15 April 2017 — In about the last 100,000 years, there have been 23 abrupt temperature changes in Greenland ice cores. In those moments, the temperature abruptly jumped or fell 9 to 14 degrees Fahrenheit across the planet and 25 to 35 degrees Fahrenheit in Greenland. The changes typically took decades to generations, but at their most extreme, they only took two to three years.

Counterintuitively, published consensus statements on climate change do not factor in abrupt change — an omission that seriously affects how climate policy is made. The reason is that we do not yet have the skill to model abrupt changes, even though ample robust evidence exists of the common occurrence of abrupt change in prehistory. It may seem unimaginable that these most important of all climate changes have been disregarded in climate policy, but this is the way the culture of the climate science consensus works. Policy is based upon impacts that we project to happen in the future through modeling.

Modeling can't tell us when abrupt climate change is beginning, at least not to the satisfaction of the consensus community that creates our climate policy. So, how do we know if we are in the early stages of an abrupt shift? It sure seems that we are warming a lot faster than before. Is this an abrupt change? Are there things other than temperature that we can use to imply that we are changing our climate abruptly?

Because it takes time for science to gather data, and it takes 30 years of data for temperature records to become statistically meaningful because of all the natural variability in the weather, we must move to a different field of decision making to determine if we are in an abrupt change. We have to use circumstantial evidence.(More)

From the Desk of Dennis Carr, LEED® AP.Sustainable Development Editor

City of Ottawa housing policy and practice;

Connect the dots between the two

By Dennis Carr

Dennis Carr has been a resident of West Wellington for over 30 years. He has 27 years’ experience creating affordable housing and social facilities in Ottawa and Vancouver. He is a past Development Manager for Centretown Citizens Ottawa Corporation, a local non-profit housing agency. From 2009 to 2014 he was Assistant Director, Social Infrastructure, for the City of Vancouver. Dennis Carr is also the recipient of the 2016 Canadian Housing and Renewal Association Lifetime Achievement Award.

“The wait time for housing is up to five years and in 2015, only 34 new affordable housing units were created, the lowest since 2005.”

Sunday 26 March 2017 —On March the 4th Cornerstone Housing for Women launched its project to convert the former Sisters of Jean D’Arc Institute at 373 Princeton Avenue in Westboro into a home for 42 low income women. It was a day of celebration for Ottawa’s affordable housing community.

Joining Cornerstone for the announcement, and to express their support, were Ottawa Centre MP Catherine McKenna, MPP Yasir Naqvi, Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson, local Councillor Jeff Leiper and local community association representatives.

The project is being made possible by a unique partnership between the Sisters of Jeanne d’Arc, who wanted to leave a legacy in the community and a private sector developer who will create infill housing on the remainder of the property. In addition to its own equity, Cornerstone will receive $5.3 million in federal and provincial funds.

The importance of community association and municipal political support for an affordable housing project cannot be overstated. However, what also needs to be stated is that despite its political support for the project, the City of Ottawa has actually reduced the resources it puts towards affordable housing in the City. (More)

From the Desk of Dennis Carr, LEED® AP.Sustainable Development Editor

'She absolutely insulted us'

First Nations leaders urge defeat of Clark government

By Jenny Uechi

National Obsever

Tuesday 1 May 2017—Speaking against the backdrop of a bright red sign that said "vote anyone but Clark," a group of First Nations leaders gathered in downtown Vancouver to deliver an unambiguous message against Premier Christy Clark and her team.

He cited the BC Liberal government's preoccupation with LNG projects, the Site C dam, the deaths of foster children in government care, and 'cash for access' corporate donations among the reasons he supports a change of government. The last day to vote in the B.C. provincial election is May 9, although early voting is already taking place.

He said the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs sent out a detailed questionnaire to all parties recently, and that the BC Liberal Party's responses indicate a "status quo" policy toward First Nations. He said the BC NDP delivered the most comprehensive response, and that the BC Greens' answers suggested a lack of understanding of issues concerning Indigenous communities. (More)

ParkTales

Parkdale tenants launch a rent strike against

above-guideline rent increases and for repairs

By Frances SedgwickTrue North Perspective

Frances Sedgwick's keen eye and ear for the human condition reveals the heart and soul of Parkdale in southwest Toronto, one of the country's most turbulent urban areas where the best traditions of human kindness prevail against powerful forces that would grind them down. True North Perspective proudly presents a column by writer Frances Sedgwick. Her critical observation combined with a tender sense of humour will provide you with something to think about ... and something to talk about.

Effective May 1, hundreds of Parkdale tenants will hold back their rent in defiance of their landlord's drive to push them out of their homes. More than one hundred MetCap tenants, neighbours, and supporters marched in Parkdale to announce the beginning of the rent strike. In front of their buildings on Tyndall and Jameson, tenants called on their neighbours to join the rent strike to stop the above guideline rent increases and for repairs in their buildings.

Tenants in multiple MetCap buildings in Toronto have been organizing for the past few months to fight rent increases and get repairs done in their units. It hasn’t been easy for MetCap to ignore the organizing going on in Parkdale and as of May 1 it will be impossible. (More)

Sex • Murder • Politics

(and heart-warming narratives about children)

An essential eclectic collection of stories

to satisfy the minds of sophisticated readers

The Old Man's Last Sauna

'Life is scary, frustrating and sometimes funny. All of these themes are explored in Carl Dow’s collection of short stories, told with the pristine elegance that we haven’t seen since the likes of Stephen Leacock or even Pierre Berton.'

While the gullible smirk at Trump's wall they ignore

that Obama and Clinton voted for the 2006 Fence Act

As for her mention of wisdom? Well, clearly, that was some kind of typo or another one of her random brain sizzles. It wasn’t so long ago that Nancy Pelosi’s fellow Democrats were all for the immoral and expensive. Her party’s last two standard-bearers — former President Barack Obama and twice-failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton — both voted in favor of the so-called “Secure Fence Act of 2006.”

'Increasingly, we hear reports of staggering violence committed by the international gang MS-13, made up primarily of illegal aliens from Central America. These vicious thugs peddle the drugs across the border and import slavery in the form of human trafficking. The violence they are capable of is beyond the imagination of civilized people.'

26 April 2017 —A full decade after voting to construct a secure barrier along the U.S. border with Mexico, Congress continues to refuse to lay out the money required to build the damned wall.

This, even after the stunning upset in last year’s elections by the juggernaut presidential campaign of Donald J. Trump, who won the presidency on a clarion vow to voters that he would once and for all build a wall along the border. Mr. Trump’s historic upset came after years and years of both Democrat and Republican politicians talking tough about illegal immigration and promising to crack down on the porous border, yet refusing to actually fix the problem.

Because they are politicians. If you fix the problem, then you can no longer campaign on the problem.

This wall, Mr. Trump promised during the campaign, would finally halt not only illegal immigration, but also the highly destructive drugs, gangs and slavery pouring over the southern border.(More)

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From the Desk of Darren Jerome

A continuing update on the war against WikiLeaks transparency

Please be advised that the below is not just the same old thing. By clicking on it you'll find the petition in support of Julian Assange and discover fascinating on-going reports and videos related to one of the most important events in modern history, and the desperate attempts to put a lid on information that everyone should know. Don't miss this special opportunity to stay informed.

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There can be no life without laughter

Some old jokes for adults only

Why did I get divorced? Well, last week was my birthday. My wife didn't wish me a happy birthday. My parents forgot and so did my kids. I went to work and even my colleagues didn't wish me a happy birthday. As I entered my office, my secretary said, "Happy birthday, boss!" I felt so special. She asked me out for lunch. After lunch, she invited me to her apartment. We went there and she said, "Do you mind if I go into the bedroom for a minute?" "Okay," I said. She came out 5 minutes later with a birthday cake, my wife, my parents, my kids, my friends, and my colleagues all yelling, "SURPRISE!!!" while I was waiting on the sofa... naked.

__________

A wife comes home late one night and quietly opens the door to her bedroom. From under the blanket, she sees four legs instead of just her husband's two. She reaches for a baseball bat and starts hitting the blanket as hard as she can. Once she's done, she goes to the kitchen to have a drink. As she enters, she sees her husband there, reading a magazine. He says, "Hi darling, your parents have come to visit us, so I let them stay in our bedroom. Did you say hello?"

__________

In a Catholic school cafeteria, a nun places a note in front of a pile of apples, "Only take one. God is watching." Further down the line is a pile of cookies. A little boy makes his own note, "Take all you want. God is watching the apples."

__________

Sam called his wife and said to her in a weak voice, "Hey baby, I was driving to a coffee shop to meet Mary when all of a sudden, a stray dog came in the way. I tried to steer left to avoid running it down, but the car skidded due to high speed, rolled over and almost ran off the cliff. The car was hanging nose down over the cliff, as I looked down fearing impending death. I just managed to climb out of the car and save my life, just before the car fell over the cliff crashing thousands of feet below and was blown into smithereens."

Sam continued, "I was taken to a hospital. I have a broken arm, broken legs, dislocated shoulder and several injuries on my head."

There was silence on the phone, then the wife asked, "Who is Mary?"

__________

A Texas farmer was touring England. He happened to meet an English farmer and asked him, "What size farm do you have?"

The Englishman proudly announced, "Thirty-five acres!"

"Thirty-five acres?" the Texan scoffed. "Why, I can get in my truck at 8:00 AM and start driving and at noon, I am still on my farm. I can eat lunch and start driving again and at 5:00 PM I am still on my farm.

"Ah, yes," the Englishman nodded with empathy, "I had a truck like that once."

__________

Bubba was bragging to his boss one day, "You know, I know everyone there is to know. Just name someone, anyone, and I know them."

Tired of his boasting, his boss called his bluff, "OK, Bubba how about Tom Cruise?"

"Sure, yes, Tom and I are old friends, and I can prove it. " So Bubba and his boss fly out to Hollywood and knock on Tom Cruise's door, and sure enough, Tom Cruise shouts, "Bubba! Great to see you! You and your friend come right in and join me for lunch!"

Although impressed, Bubba's boss is still skeptical. After they leave Cruise's house, he tells Bubba that he thinks Bubba's knowing Cruise was just lucky.

"No, no, just name anyone else," Bubba says.

"President Trump," his boss quickly retorts.

"Yes," Bubba says, "I know him, let's fly out to Washington."

And off they go. At the White House, Trump spots Bubba on the tour and motions him and his boss over, saying, "Bubba, what a surprise, I was just on my way to a meeting, but you and your friend come on in and let's have a cup of coffee first and catch up."

Well, the boss is very shaken by now, but still not totally convinced.

After they leave the White house grounds, he expresses his doubts to Bubba, who again implores him to name anyone else.

"The Pope," his boss replies. "Sure!" says Bubba. "My folks are from South America, and I've known the Pope a long time."

So off they fly to Rome. Bubba and his boss are assembled with the masses in Vatican Square when Bubba says, "This will never work. I can't catch the Pope's eye among all these people. Tell you what, I know all the guards so let me just go upstairs and I'll come out on the balcony with the Pope." And he disappears into the crowd headed toward the Vatican.

Sure enough, half an hour later Bubba emerges with the Pope on the balcony. But by the time Bubba returns, he finds that his boss has had a heart attack and is surrounded by paramedics.

Working his way to his boss' side, Bubba asks him, "What happened?"

His boss looks up and says, "I was doing fine until you and the Pope came out on the balcony and the man next to me said, "Who's that on the balcony with Bubba?"

Sex or Health?

Corn flakes produced to prevent 'personal interference'

Dr. Kellogg was convinced masturbation could be cured

Corn flakes cereal is a staple on breakfast tables all over the world. Today it is marketed as a healthy part of a balanced breakfast. But corn flakes were originally invented by a fanatically religious doctor as a way to stop people from masturbating.(More)

Canada Post's net profit of $81 million for 2016

shows crown corp’s potential says Mike Palecek

Tuesday 2 May Ottawa — Canada Post has once again turned a profit. The Crown corporation made $81 million in net profit in 2016 in spite of a management team that refuses to innovate, and despite management threats to lock out postal workers last summer, which scared away a hundred million dollars in business.

The union representing the majority of postal workers says it’s time to stop the doom and gloom.

“Canada Post is a public sector success story,” said CUPW National President Mike Palecek. “For years, they’ve tried to cut our public services and jobs by claiming the sky is falling. Their dire predictions have never materialized.”

Palecek pointed out that the postal system has consistently made money and will continue to, if it plots the right course.

“We want to see a plan that ensures the future viability of the postal service,” said Palecek. “Around the world, post offices are expanding services to bring in new revenue. This country urgently needs services such as broadband, postal banking, services at the door for seniors and electric charging stations. Canada Post could offer solutions. Instead, they offered a raft of service cuts that wasted hundreds of millions of dollars.”

Palecek said the union also hopes the government will make good on its election pledge to restore home mail delivery. “The Prime Minister promised to restore door-to-door delivery on the campaign trail. It’s time for the Liberals to live up to their promises.”

Russian Muslim leaders of Ingushetia come down

on bride abductors with fines of up to 200,000 rubles

Wednesday 26 April 2017 (RT) — Meanwhile a bill is before the Russian parliament that would make bride abduction a criminal offense. If implemented the new legislation might help eraddicate the bride abduction tradition that still exists in some regions of Russia.

On Wednesday, the parliament of Russia’s Republic of Ingushetia submitted a draft bill to the State Duma, suggesting a three-year imprisonment penalty for kidnapping women and forcing them into marriage.

Russia’s Criminal Code includes an article regarding human abduction, which carries a prison sentence of up to fifteen years, depending the consequences and if it was committed by more than one man. The article, however, states that if the abductor releases the abductee voluntarily, and there were not any other offences committed, no criminal charges would be pressed. (More)

Business

Ford factory workers get 40-hour week

On 1 May in 1926, Ford Motor Company becomes one of the first companies in America to adopt a five-day, 40-hour week for workers in its automotive factories. The policy would be extended to Ford’s office workers the following August.

Henry Ford’s Detroit-based automobile company had broken ground in its labor policies before. In early 1914, against a backdrop of widespread unemployment and increasing labor unrest, Ford announced that it would pay its male factory workers a minimum wage of $5 per eight-hour day, upped from a previous rate of $2.34 for nine hours (the policy was adopted for female workers in 1916). The news shocked many in the industry–at the time, $5 per day was nearly double what the average auto worker made–but turned out to be a stroke of brilliance, immediately boosting productivity along the assembly line and building a sense of company loyalty and pride among Ford’s workers.

The decision to reduce the workweek from six to five days had originally been made in 1922. According to an article published in The New York Times that March, Edsel Ford, Henry’s son and the company’s president, explained that “Every man needs more than one day a week for rest and recreation….The Ford Company always has sought to promote [an] ideal home life for its employees. We believe that in order to live properly every man should have more time to spend with his family.”

Henry Ford said of the decision: “It is high time to rid ourselves of the notion that leisure for workmen is either ‘lost time’ or a class privilege.” At Ford’s own admission, however, the five-day workweek was also instituted in order to increase productivity: Though workers’ time on the job had decreased, they were expected to expend more effort while they were there. Manufacturers all over the country, and the world, soon followed Ford’s lead, and the Monday-to-Friday workweek became standard practice.

__________

1 May 1960

CIA U-2 spy plane shot down over Russia

CIA told angry President Eisenhower Russia unable to bring it down

An American U-2 spy plane is shot down while conducting espionage over the Soviet Union. The incident derailed an important summit meeting between President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev that was scheduled for later that month.

The U-2 spy plane was the brainchild of the Central Intelligence Agency, and it was a sophisticated technological marvel. Traveling at altitudes of up to 70,000 feet (21 km), the aircraft was equipped with state-of-the-art photography equipment that could, the CIA boasted, take high-resolution pictures of headlines in Russian newspapers as it flew overhead. Flights over the Soviet Union began in mid-1956. The CIA assured President Eisenhower that the Soviets did not possess anti-aircraft weapons sophisticated enough to shoot down the high-altitude planes.

On May 1, 1960, a U-2 flight piloted by Francis Gary Powers disappeared while on a flight over Russia. The CIA reassured the president that, even if the plane had been shot down, it was equipped with self-destruct mechanisms that would render any wreckage unrecognizable and the pilot was instructed to kill himself in such a situation. Based on this information, the U.S. government issued a cover statement indicating that a weather plane had veered off course and supposedly crashed somewhere in the Soviet Union. With no small degree of pleasure, Khrushchev pulled off one of the most dramatic moments of the Cold War by producing not only the mostly-intact wreckage of the U-2, but also the captured pilot-very much alive. A chagrined Eisenhower had to publicly admit that it was indeed a U.S. spy plane.

On May 16, a major summit between the United States, the Soviet Union, Great Britain, and France began in Paris. Issues to be discussed included the status of Berlin and nuclear arms control. As the meeting opened, Khrushchev launched into a tirade against the United States and Eisenhower and then stormed out of the summit. The meeting collapsed immediately and the summit was called off. Eisenhower considered the “stupid U-2 mess” one of the worst debacles of his presidency. The pilot, Francis Gary Powers, was released in 1962 in exchange for a captured Soviet spy.

Young, Hipster and Red

Meet Russia's new generation of Communists

The crusty shell of Russia's Communist Party may be associated with pensioners, but the movement is undergoing a face-lift as young turn to the banner of Lenin

By Bradley Jardine and Ola Cichowlas

The Moscow Times

1 May 2017 — When the creaking, bureaucratic Soviet state suddenly collapsed in 1991, Andrei Klychkov was just a schoolboy in Kaliningrad, Russia’s exclave in north west Europe.

Now, twenty-six years on, Klychkov is a lawyer — with crisp presentation and sharp suits. He’s also the communist candidate in Moscow’s mayoral elections.

“Anyone who says socialism did not work simply does not know their history,” he tells The Moscow Times from his office in the Moscow City Duma local parliament buildings.

For some, it may come as a surprise to learn that a young cosmopolitan with memories of socialism’s decline would join Russia’s Communist Party. After all, most of the organization’s primary support comes from those generations who properly remember the Soviet Russia. (More)

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True North Perspective is dedicated to filling in the gaps to help round out the news knowledge of Canadians — and of others around the world — so that, as developments occur, we'll not be taken by surprise. Our goal is to provide information that will let the sun shine on the world's continuing struggle for democracy, without hiding our head in the sand. — Carl Dow, Editor and Publisher, True North Perspective. For our full Mission Statement, please click here.